


i am also a we

by freshhellorwtv



Category: Sense8 (TV), The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: F/F, Found Family, Gen, Internalized Homophobia, Slow Burn, everybody and the cluster, forced family lmao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:15:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28158924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freshhellorwtv/pseuds/freshhellorwtv
Summary: Toni's just trying to survive her shitty situation and brand-new heartache when a tall pretty blonde starts popping into her life. Quite literally. As do five other girls. And Martha.orThe wilds/sense8 crossover au nobody asked for.
Relationships: Dot Campbell/Fatin Jadmani, Leah Rilke/Fatin Jadmani, Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe, The Unsinkable Eight
Comments: 110
Kudos: 323





	1. Rebirth

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title from the sense8 episode of the same name. It helps to have watched sense8 (and honestly if you haven't watched it you should either way!), but you can probably make do without it with a little bit of patience. Special thanks to montkhsl, creeksidiminion, and JesstheMess for reading it over and encouraging me to start this!

Rachel feels like she’s losing her mind. She can already hear Nora’s voice in the back of her head telling her that running in the middle of the night instead of doing her homework means she’s already lost it, but she drowns her twin out. She knows she’s good enough to make it. And she will. She raises the music in her earphones to drown out her thoughts, already halfway through her pump-up playlist, when a ghostly figure appears right in front of her, knocking her onto her ass as she hits the brakes to avoid running into the stranger.

“Shit!” Rachel yells, “Where did you come fr-” But her words die in her mouth. The woman has long sweaty platinum blonde hair, and eyes sunken into her ghost-like face. She’s staring at her like Rachel means the world to her.

Suddenly a song comes out that is definitely not on her playlist, and startles her so much that she looks away from the haunting stare of the woman to stare down at her phone, lyrics blasting in her ears.

_This shit is a girl blunt, I only smoke girl blunts_

The screen displays _Nonstop_ still playing, but in her ears she can hear the wrong lyrics bright as day.

_This shit is a gir-_

_What the fuck?_ She thinks to herself, trying not to freak out. She looks up at the woman, but she’s gone, which does nothing to still her heartbeat. She’s probably on the edge of a burnout. She rips her earphones out and to her delight the music abruptly stops. It was probably some weird glitch on Spotify, she tells herself as she pulls herself to her feet to continue her run.

* * *

Fatin is partying her fucking heart out and loving it. She can feel herself shedding her stress to the rhythmic thump of the base as she throws her hands above her head and smiles a wicked grin in bliss.

_This shit is a girl blunt, I only smoke girl blunts_

She knows the boy she’s had her eyes on is staring at her and she doesn’t hesitate to grin knowing she has him hook, line, and sinker. She saunters over to him and grabs his arm and puts it around her waist, dragging him onto the dancefloor. A brief glance at the clock on the wall of this rando’s house lets her know she has a good hour before rushing back home to her overbearing mother. Her grin grows even larger, somehow. Suddenly, a pale figure catches her eye. It’s a middle-aged woman in a stark white nightgown staring at her from the other side of the house party, looking ridiculously out of place. Fatin’s movements slow as the woman’s haunting look bears deep into her soul.

“You alright?” The boytoy who she has her arms around asks her, pulling her gaze back to him.

“…yeah,” she replies, pulling her trademark grin back onto her face. She spares a glance back across the room and sees no creepy lady, to her delight. _Well that was fucking weird,_ she says to herself. _But ultimately, who gives a shit._ She’s got about an hour to fuck the living daylight out of this boy before she gets home scot-free.

* * *

Leah can feel her tears drying on her cheeks as she looks at the text, but can’t bring herself to let go of the phone to wipe them off. She’s knows more will just replace them soon.

_Don’t contact me again. Goodbye._

She doesn’t know what she was thinking. She should have known it would always end like this. But her love for him is real, and she knows, _knows goddamn it,_ that he loves her to.

 _Loved,_ sneers a voice in her head, which just prompts more tears to stream down her face. He had to love her, he had to. It was too real.

She places the phone screendown onto her bed and goes to plop her face into her pillow but instead receives the shock of her life. She lets out a scream and throws herself upright on the bed, because there is a _stranger_ in her _room._

A woman is sitting in the corner of her room, shaking and looking at Leah like her heart’s been tugged out personally by the teenager.

“What…” Leah’s shaky voice manages to get out, still clogged from all her crying. “Who…” she continues smartly, raising a hand in the woman’s direction.

“Honey?” Leah can hear her mom’s voice calling out from somewhere in the house. “Are you okay? What was that?”

Leah’s eyes won’t move away from the woman’s stark blue ones, and she raises her voice to answer her mothers, “I-I’m fine mom,” she yells out feebly, but the footsteps continue to approach. Suddenly her door is thrown upon, and she has no idea how she’s going to explain this absurd situation to her mother.

“Mom, I don’t-” she starts, looking back at her mother, and gesturing feebly at the woman.

“What are you talking about, sweetheart?”

Leah scrunches her eyes and looks back into the corner, where no one is sitting. _Shit,_ she thinks to herself, _what the fuck is happening to me._

* * *

Dot hums a song quietly to herself as she arranges her father’s medication. It was a good day at school, everybody stayed out of her business, and she brought in a good haul with sales today. Taking the proper doses into her palm, she walks into the living room to tend to her father.

“So you ready to get absolutely high out of your mind, Dad,” she jokes, grinning. But the grin quickly slides off her face as she sees a strange woman standing in the living room, right in front of the TV.

“Dad?” Dot asks, eyebrows arched, and totally about to freak out. “Who is this? I didn’t know we had guests… ever.”

“What, honey?” Her dad’s weak voice answers her from the sofa. Dot looks at him incredulously, but he’s looking at her weakly, with a softly arched eyebrow.

“Dad, the lady, who is she?” She asks, before remembering her manners and turning to the woman, “Like no offense lady but _Survivor_ is about to come on so you’re going to have to move,” she jokes, looking back at the TV, which now has no one blocking it. Her eyebrows come together quickly, unbelieving.

“Dot, you okay? Did you say some’in about a lady?” Her dad slurs out.

“Uh, no Dad, there’s nothing,” Dot answers shakily. “I’ve got your meds,” she says instead, changing the subject. She has no idea what the fuck’s just happened, or why her heart won’t stop racing in her chest.

* * *

Toni lives for these moments. Final seconds on the clock, ball in her hands, her team’s chances at victory falling onto her shoulders, and her heart racing in her chest. She takes the ball upcourt and signals to her teammates to give her the space she needs to take this defender to goddamn school. She can’t help the cocky grin that slides into place, knowing her girlfriend is in the bleachers watching her as she’s about to fucking sink this shot. She cuts quickly towards the basket before stopping on a dime and stepping back, hands going above her head, ready to shoot, when a figure standing right underneath the basket, _on the court,_ interrupts all smoothness of her motions. The lady sticks out amongst the sea of jerseys in her all-white gown.

“Ah!” Toni shrieks, arms jerking upward and losing grip of the ball. The defender pounces on it quickly and sprints downcourt to score an open layup.

“Fuck!” Toni yells, swinging her arm in the air in anger, twirling to look at the lady who fucked up her shot, “Who the FUCK-” but her tirade is cut short. There’s no one there. Toni draws herself up and stares in shock at the place the woman once stood, remember her haunting face that had distracted her so abruptly. Her teammates are already crowding around her and reassuring her that its okay, but she shrugs them off and snaps out of it, barging off of the court and away from the questioning eyes of their supporters, and Reagan’s, she knows, somewhere out in the crowd.

“Toni!” her coach’s voice cuts out to her, “we’re shaking the other teams’ hands, get your ass back on court!” But she ignores him, making a beeline to the locker room, rage thrumming throughout her body. She sits on the bench, cursing herself out for getting distracted and ruining the team’s chance. The door opens and she expects her teammates, but its Martha’s voice instead, sounding strangely shaken.

“Toni?” she calls out. Toni snaps back in response.

“ _What?!_ Can’t you see I just fucking blew it for our team? Just give me a _fucking_ moment” she yells, throwing a fist into the locker next to her as she curses.

“It was the woman, wasn’t it?” At that, Toni’s attention is finally on Martha.

“You saw her too?”

“Yea… but she vanished so quickly, it was like… I imagined her or something? After you missed the shot – sorry,” she adds sheepishly at the glare Toni throws at her, “She looked right at me in the bleachers. It was fucking weird.”

Toni and Martha look at each other in confusion and slight fear.

“You can say that again,” Toni mumbles.

* * *

Shelby pushes herself to bike faster, doing her absolute best not to look to her side at the stationary bike that should be occupied by Becca but is instead now being ridden by some blank-eyed stranger. She immediately berates herself for being unnecessarily mean to this lady, and even spares a glance at her father at the front of the room, as if he could read her thoughts.

She bikes even faster to push any thoughts of Becca out of her mind, focusing on the burn rushing through her muscles. She glances to her right out the body-length windows to see a peculiar sight down on the street. A lady in a white nightgown is looking straight up at the gym window, eyes locked on Shelby. Shelby tilts her head and stares back at the lady, who is standing in the middle of the street. Shelby can’t seem to look away, a hypnotizing tie strung out between them. Suddenly, the blare of a horn alerts her to the fact that this lady is standing in a _very busy street,_ and she reacts without thinking.

“Watch out!” Shelby screams, throwing her body towards the window as if it would make a difference.

“Shelby?” Her fathers voice cuts through the panic and she looks back to see him looking at her worryingly. “Is everything okay?”

Shelby looks back to the street to see no horrific car crash, no body strewn out on the road. No second death on her conscious.

“Yeah,” she answers shakily, “Just thought a pedestrian was about to get hit. Sorry, daddy.”

“No problem sweetheart,” he smiles, which she does her best to return.

* * *

Nora’s sitting and writing at her desk, halfway through a Virginia Wolfe essay that she could do with her eyes closed, her mind far away. In fact, her thoughts are with her sister, who’s been exceedingly agitated lately, and she can’t help but let the worry that’s been growing in her chest continue to fester.

Suddenly, she feels a cold shiver run through the room. Nora shakes in response, tugging her pjs closer around her and getting up to close the window that must have been open. As she turns around, she flies back in shock, butt hitting the desk at the absolute suddenness of a woman appearing right in the middle of her room.

The two stare at each other uninterruptedly, and Nora finally finds her voice.

“Are… are you okay? You look pretty sick… how’d you get in here?” She has a lot of questions, but the woman looks like she needs immediate help. Her eyes have deep blue bags underneath them and sweat is clinging to her forehead in an alarming manner. After a long beat of silence, the woman’s mouth slowly opens as if to say something, but instead a piercing scream shoots out. Nora’s eyes wrench shut at the unearthly sound exiting this woman, and she throws her hands over her ears. When her eyes open once more, the woman is gone, leaving only questions behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is almost ready, let me know what you think. Things start picking up soon, I promise


	2. Visiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls Visit one another unknowingly, and meet Angelica properly - somewhat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING for suicide near the end.
> 
> Thank you again to montkhsl, creeksidiminion, and JesstheMess!!

A week passes without a reappearance from the vanishing lady, but a persisting migraine won’t leave her. Toni spends her days going to classes, ignoring it all, spending time with Reagan and Martha, enjoying the simple pleasure of a roof above her head. Until she had to go and ruin it all, like always.

“I just don’t understand why you couldn’t let them walk away,” Reagan repeats to Toni. Yesterday, after those fucking homophobic assholes assaulted her and Reagan after their movie date, Toni just couldn’t keep her anger to herself. As always. She’s gone and ruined a good thing, picking fights. In her defense, they goddamn deserved it. She only regrets accidentally hitting Reagan.

 _Reagan,_ Toni thinks to herself. Reagan’s breaking up with her. Cause of her goddamn anger issues, like that’s her fucking fault. The world’s been out to get her since day one, she’s just holding her own. She wishes Reagan still saw that. Like the beginning.

She can’t believe it. Reagan has stopped talking but Toni can hear her words still ringing in her head, and they begin to blend into other voices. She’s too much. Her legs feel numb, sitting in this car she’s come to love, and she can’t take it anymore. Toni wrenches the door open and throws herself out of the car, struggling to breathe. She’s never had a panic attack before, but this feels close to one. She slams the door shut, runs her hands through her hair. Her heart is racing. She’s no fucking good. She’s a fucking fuse set to blow and she knows it. It’s as though red is seeping into the edges of her vision as she looks through the window into the backseat of Reagan’s car, and she can feel the rage climbing through her chest like an inferno. Suddenly, a voice cuts through the haze.

“Um… are you okay?” Toni whips her head to the right and sees a girl with long brown hair playing with the long sleeves of her pjs, looking entirely out of place in the Minnesota cold.

“I totally, like, don’t mean to interrupt or anything,” the mystery girl speaks in a strange stilted manner, and Toni’s anger is still barely contained. She needs this girl to get to the point. “But… where am I? I’m really confused.”

Toni can’t really give her the attention she needs, and she snaps at the girl.

“What the fuck do you fucking mean? Did you hit your fucking head or something?? Its fucking Minnesota, dipshit,” but Toni’s wheezing at this point. She can barely think – she’s all alone. The girl steps up gently to Toni and reaches out for her but Toni lashes her arm out.

“I think you’re having a panic attack,” the girl says, “Maybe you should sit down, I can help you, my sister gets them some-”

“I don’t fucking care!” Toni screams, and in the same breath Reagan drives away with only a worried glance thrown back at Toni. _Fuck,_ Toni thinks, looking despairingly at the retreating car, her breathing climbing higher and faster, _she’s gone I’m alone I’m alone I’m-_

An arm is placed on hers as she sinks to the ground, putting her own arms over her head. The arm becomes two as the girl circles her arms around Toni. Toni doesn’t have the awareness to shove this complete fucking stranger off of her and she doesn’t have the space to think because everything is fucking crumbling again. But at the edges of her consciousness, she can hear the girl’s voice, counting steadily to five. No, its more than that… Toni thinks she really must be losing it, because she can feel a calmness seeping in that’s so foreign to her body it feels like it’s actually not hers. Then the girl’s voice cuts in through the dwindling static.

“There you go, that’s much better… I know this is really bad timing but I gotta ask… were you serious about this being Minnesota?”

The question is so goddamn absurd it tugs Toni completely out of her own head, and she shoots an incredulous look at the girl. Suddenly, she’s too tired to feel angry and resigns herself to playing this game.

“Yes, I’m serious. Who are you? Why are you so goddamned confused?” The girl grimaces in response.

“Well this is weird… I’m Nora. I was just in my room in Long Island but now I’m here.” The girl – Nora, Toni recites – announces this strange fact like its only mildly absurd and in the same tone of voice she’s had the whole time, as though she’s not suggesting bending time and space. Toni scrunches up her eyebrows and turns to look at the girl, questions rolling through her mind, panic attack almost forgotten.

“What do you mean you’re in Long Is-” But Nora’s gone. Toni whips her head around, mind on high alert, hands still shaking in barely contained rage.

_What the fuck?_

* * *

Dot’s hands are shaking. And Dot’s hands don’t fucking shake. Ever since the weird lady appeared in her living room last week, strange things have been happening. She’s woken up in the middle of the night to her heart racing despite no dreams. She’s felt inexplicably turned on in the middle of math class for no goddamned reason. And once, she swore she heard Shelby singing, but she was in her own room. To top it all off, she’s had a migraine that won’t quit.

Safe to say, Dot’s been feeling out of it. To make matters worse, her dad’s situation is deteriorating. She fucking knows it. Which brings her to her current situation, hunched over her desk in her room, hands fucking shaking.

“You’ve got some _serious_ bad posture.”

Dot whips her head to the right at the sound of yet another stranger in her house.

“What the fuck?”

“ _Excuse_ you, language,” answers the girl in her room. “And also, that’s my line. Where the fuck am I? Who the fuck are you?”

“Who the fuck am _I_?” Dot repeats back. “This is _my_ fucking room, who the fuck are _you_?”

The tall girl, dressed in a flamboyant green jacket and black jeans, raises an eyebrow at her, way too calm considering the situation. Dot can’t help but notice how beautiful she is, but promptly shoves the thought away due to the fact that this bitch is trespassing.

“Well, at least you answered one of my questions, but you could have been nicer about it, damn.”

Dot shakes her head, trying to right her thoughts. “No, wait wait wait. How the hell did you get in here?”

The girl huffs, but answers, “I have no clue. I was just entering the studio to get my cello on and instead I walk into this pigsty of a room.”

“Hey,” Dot protests weakly, “Back off, this pigsty is my bedroom.”

“Yea, no, I got that,” the girl answers, “That’s all you’ve fucking told me.”

“Well you’re the one who barged in here with that ridiculous story.”

“It’s the truth!” That gets a rise out of the girl. “Okay, lets just take a step back. I’m Fatin, and you are?”

“Dot. And this is my room. So, like, get out,” she goes to shove the girl away.

“Just _hold on_ ,” Fatin says, putting her arms on Dot’s to stop her, “Clearly, we have no idea what’s happening but what I _do_ know is that you’re shaking there, fella.”

Dot mutters back, “Yea, well, I’ve got kind of a headscratcher of a situation, so if you could kindly make your way on over to the exit, that would be great.”

“We’re not on a plane, calm down. And I’d leave if I fucking knew how I got here.”

That brings Dot and Fatin to a stop. Dot brings a hand up away from Fatin’s grip in order to massage the migraine that has only been exacerbated by the recent events.

“Is your head hurting?” Fatin asks, “Cause I’ve had the worst fucking migraine ever since this party last Saturday.”

That lights a bulb in Dot’s brain, who starts thinking a mile a minute. It’s absurd, but she needs to ask.

“Did you… see this weird ghost lady?”

Fatin stares at her in shock. “Night gown, long blond hair?” Dot nods, eyes wide alert. “Yea…” affirms Fatin, “How the hell did you know that? Are you pulling my leg?”

“Cause I saw her too, and no. What the fuck is going on…” but when she blinks, Fatin is already gone, the hand she had on Dot’s arm just a phantom memory. But Dot already has an idea, and it leads her to think something she never has before.

Once she gets to school, she needs to speak with Shelby.

* * *

Later that morning, Shelby finds herself walking the hallways of her school with a pounding migraine. She wishes she could just skip, but that would ruin her ever-so-perfect image. As she walks to her locker, she sees Andrew waiting for her. The idea of talking to him while her brain is trying to exit her skull makes her want to puke, so she makes a hard turn and heads straight for the bathroom.

Once inside, Shelby goes right to the sink, splashing water on her face and staring into her reflection in the mirror. The strange lady from last week hasn’t really left her mind, and since then she just hasn’t felt like herself. Shelby prides herself on being able to control her emotions, and stay optimistic, but her feelings have been a rollercoaster this past week. She’s felt heartbroken, although her and Andrew were as steady as ever, and she’s felt a strong dread deep in her stomach. Sometimes she blinks and finds herself in completely new settings, afraid her imagination has spun out of control. Sometimes she sees a girl with freckles and dark hair, angry at a girl with kind eyes. But she doesn’t know what to do, nor what these things mean. And with Becca gone, she has no one to talk to…

A sudden retching sound interrupts her grim thoughts. “Hello?” Shelby calls timidly into the bathroom, “Whoever’s there, are you okay? I’ve got some Tylenol, if you need it.” She tries to inject her usual sunshine into the offer.

“Go away,” answers a voice she doesn’t recognize, in obvious discomfort. Shelby frowns and gently pushes upon the only occupied stall.

“Well,” Shelby drawls, “You didn’t lock the door, and I promise I don’t bite.” The girl is hunched over the toilet seat, a grim yet determined look on her face. Shelby goes to hold her hair up, but the girl’s hair is already in a extremely tight bun, pulling to the back of her head. Her getup surprises Shelby; she’s in a one-piece swimsuit at the start of the school day.

“You got swim practice during first period or something?” Shelby tries to joke.

“What?” the girl asks, shooting a confused look in Shelby’s direction. “How’d you even get in here, it’s for divers only.”

Shelby raises her eyebrow at that, “The girls’ bathroom is for divers only? We don’t even have a dive program.”

“What?” the girl repeats, finally properly looks at Shelby. “I’ve never seen you before.” Shelby tilts her head in confusion – their school is pretty large by public school standards, but people still knew each other, especially in the same grade. Suddenly, Shelby looks around and notices that she’s no longer in her school’s tiled bathroom, but instead a locker room with a blue floor and the distinct smell of chlorine hanging in the air.

“What in the world…” Shelby trails off.

“Listen, I don’t have time for this, I’m up next,” the girl is up on her feet in an instant and heading for the door.

“Wait!” Shelby calls, “You’re going to dive?! After puking like that?” The girl waves Shelby’s concern off. “That can’t be good!”

“Oh, I am good,” the girl throws over her shoulder, and exits the locker room. And once Shelby blinks, she’s back in good ol’ Texas.

* * *

Rachel clenches her jaw and focuses on placing one foot in front of the other. She doesn’t spare a look at the stands where she knows her family is watching, and the edges of her vision begin to blur. But she blocks it out. She’s about to prove herself to everyone. It doesn’t matter what advantages the other girls have, Rachel’s put in the work. She’s trained hard – no, the hardest. And hard work pays off. She deserves this, and she’s going to nail this goddamned dive, no matter what the pounding in her head has to say about it.

She’s at the top of the diving board now and extends her hands out from her sides, toes right at the edge of the abyss. Takes a deep breath.

 _You live for this,_ she reminds herself. _Stay tight._

And with a fluid motion, she throws herself into a twirl. Only for her head to promptly smack off of the board with a sickening _THUD_ , letting her tumble gracelessly the rest of the way down. She loses consciousness, she thinks, because the next thing she knows someone is hauling her out of the pool, someone who dived in clothes and all. She opens her eyes to look at whoever unnecessarily did this – really, she would have woken up and been fine – to see a brunette with deep blue eyes. Rachel wants to shove her off, she does, but she’s not a complete asshole – the girl did just jump into this pool for a stranger.

“Rachel!” Nora is there in the next second and grabs her other shoulder. She looks at the girl who helped Rachel out and shakily thanks her.

“Yea, no problem,” coughs out the girl. Rachel can hear her mom calling from the stands, and irrationally she suddenly dreads having to look into her parent’s eyes after her irrevocable failure. She closes her own eyes shut, lets the feeling of Nora and this girl pulling her gently up unto her feet override her senses. When she opens her eyes again, there’s just Nora. The twins look at each other in confusion. Finally, Rachel says her first words.

“Did… you saw her too right? I’m not… concussed?”

“Well, you might be concussed, but yea… I definitely saw her. Let’s get you some help though, you’re bleeding.”

Hours later, Rachel’s head bandaged and cleared to go home, she and Nora are looking at footage of her diving failure. They watch as Rachel’s head smacks off the board, and the blue of the pool turn red around her body. And they watch as Rachel swims herself to shore, no blue-eyed girl diving in, no stranger in sight.

The twins look at each other in silence and fear. Nora is the one to break the deadlock.

“I know you don’t really like to but… I think we need to talk.”

* * *

Back in school, Dot is marching down the hallway with a mission: find Shelby Goodkind. She goes straight for the other girl’s locker, and sees her talking to her douchey boyfriend Andrew. She has no qualms about interrupting.

“Shelby,” Dot cuts in unceremoniously, “We need to talk.” At that, Andrew’s eyes widen, and Dot curses herself for forgetting about the fact that she saw him cheating on Shelby. _Should have approached that differently. Well, too late for that._

“About precalc” She adds half-assedly. They don't even share a class.

“Well, it can wait,” sneers Andrew, “Can’t you see we’re busy?” But Shelby’s kind voice cuts right in.

“No, its okay, Andrew, really. Sure, Dorothy, what’s up?”

“Uhm,” Dot’s brain stalls, having not thought this through at all. “Uh, well, it’s kind of embarrassing. Can we talk in private for just a moment?” An idea strikes her, and she offers up a clue she hopes Shelby catches, “This hallway is just really loud and I’ve had the absolute _worst_ migraine all week.” She doesn’t break eye contact with Shelby as she says this, hoping she gets her message across.

She spot’s a flash of recognition in Shelby’s eyes before the Christian girl smiles at her good-naturedly.

“Of course! Go on to lunch, Andrew,” she says before planting a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll be right there.”

“I… uh, okay. Okay. See you later babe.” He pulls her into an awkward kiss that Shelby almost immediately breaks. Dot purses her mouth, trying to hide her disgust. She smiles sarcastically at Andrew, shooting him a “Bye!” before grabbing Shelby’s arm and pulling her into a nearby classroom.

* * *

While Dorothy’s behaviour has been strange, its really on par with Shelby’s day. So as the girl pulls her into the classroom, Shelby is only slightly surprised to see a strange but vaguely familiar brunette sprawled out on one of the tables, eyes facing the ceiling. The sight gives Dot and Shelby pause. And the more Shelby looks at this girl, the more she feels inexplicably drawn to her. In the split second before the girl notices the two of them, her face tugs at Shelby’s heart; her eyebrows are scrunched up, and tears are welling up in her eyes. There’s also a distinct anger thrumming in her features, an anger that Shelby swears she can feel run through her own veins, along with heartache. But the second is over fast enough, and the girl notices Dot and Shelby. She quickly pulls herself up and wipes the tears away angrily, glaring at the two.

“Who the fuck are you? How’d you get in here?”

The strange question reminds Shelby of the swimmer from the morning, and she looks around to find herself in a cozy bedroom, a mattress on the floor which the brunette has just stood up from set next to a bed in the middle of the room. She looks at Dot, confusion in her eyes, and Dot responds by holding up her index finger to the stranger.

“Just one second,” Dot grimaces, and heads straight for the door. She opens the door to show a bustling hallway, and reaches out to pull a student into the room by the elbow.

“Hey!” She beams at him sarcastically, “Quick question. Who do you see in this room?”

Shelby and the brunette exchange confused glances at Dot’s weird line of questioning, and Shelby curses her heart for speeding up slightly at the small eye contact.

“Is this a joke?” The annoyed but rather intimidated boy answers. Dot just shakes him lightly in response. “Okay, okay. You and Shelby. Happy?”

“Extremely, thank you!” Dot beams, shoving him back out the door, slamming it behind him. They’re back in the classroom, although Shelby has the distinct feeling they never left it. The strange brunette watches the interaction with an alarmed face, looking around at her surroundings the same way Shelby must have in the cozy room.

“What. The fuck,” is the only thing to leave the girl’s mouth.

“Agreed,” Dot answers. The three of them stare at each other, no one knowing what to say. Suddenly, the door opens again and another brunette with kind eyes walks in with a toothbrush in her mouth, sentence already forming.

“Hey Toni,” the girl starts, “What do you think o-” But the sentence dies in her mouth, as she takes in the sight of two strangers in her bedroom.

“Martha,” the girl, Toni, answers, “I am so confused right now and to be honest pretty pissed off because this is _not_ helping my goddamn migraine or this shitty fucking day.” Her words only add to the stack of coincidences that are now distinctly a pattern, but Shelby curses herself once more for liking the rough sound of Toni’s voice.

“Uh… who are you two? How’d you get in here?” At the girl – Martha’s – question, Shelby finally finds her own voice.

“Hi, Martha, is it? And Toni? Well, I’m Shelby Goodkind, pleasure to make your acquaintance. And this here is Dorothy-”

“Dot,” interject the girl in question.

“Dot.” Agrees Shelby, “And I believe we have just as many questions.” Right on cue, the bell rings, causing them all to startle as students walk into the classroom. Dot and Shelby look at each other, Toni and Martha now gone.

“We _need_ to talk after school,” Dot tells her, grabbing her forearm as they head to their respective classes.

“Oh, definitely.”

* * *

Angelica’s never felt pain like this. Ever since she gave birth to her first cluster a week ago, she’s been writhing in agony, knowing the end is near but unable to move herself to a secure location. Her only respite comes when Jonas Visits her, his hold a small comfort in the wide cold spaces of the abandoned cathedral. He’s here now, holding her hand, trying to give her the strength she needs to gather her girls. They need guidance, they both know, and she needs to summon them.

In the blink of an eye, eight girls appear before her tattered mattress. They look so starkly different from one another, in varying stages of undress, and she looks at them fondly. Her children.

“Girls,” she starts, but is immediately cut off by her child Rachel.

“No, just no. Where the hell are we?! Who… who are you, how am I seeing you again and WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!” She looks at the other girls, and stutters to a halt when she sees Shelby and Leah, recognition falling onto her features. Angelica smiles to herself. They had begun Visiting, that would help ease the explanation.

“Girls,” she repeats, “My children. I know you all felt it when you were reborn. Last week.” The girls exchange confused glances. “You have seen me. My name is Angelica. I am your mother,” she continues. At that, Toni tenses, drawing Angelica’s attention. “You will have started visiting one another, just as I visited you. I don’t have much time, so please listen to me, my girl, and ask questions after.” The girls fidget in front of her, but they must see – and feel – the utter state of despair she’s in, and they let her continue.

“Listen carefully. Not many get the chance to be born again. Born a sensate. Look at each other,” sensing the gravity of the moment, the girls obey, glancing at once another. “This is your cluster. Jonas, from my cluster, will meet one of you soon, and explain this all better, I hope.

“You will learn how to Visit, and how to Share, and you will experience the beauty of being seven more people. But I do not have time to explain, because I’m afraid that you’re in grave danger.” That draws fearful reactions, and she can see Leah breathing heavily. She tries to smile through her pain to ease their fears. “Stick to each other in the challenges that will come. People want what you have. This link, this transcendence of experience and emotion beyond that of what humans commonly understand is a coveted thing, and there are people who will poke and prod at you to understand it and glean it from your skulls, quite literally. You need to stick together, combine your resources, understand Sharing and Visiting, and trust one another.”

She takes a deep breath, feeling their skepticism, “I know this is all sudden, but lean into your senses. What do you feel?” She looks at them, imploring them to believe her. “Do you not see this large cathedral, can you not feel the cold wind? You feel it because I do. And still, can you not see your own surroundings, be it your bedroom, a stranger’s, or a parking lot? I am there as well, and you are both here and there. We are Visiting.”

Just as she finishes her sentence, the sound of footsteps echoes throughout the cathedral, and the cluster spins around to see a blonde lady with an upturned nose marching towards Angelica with security guards surrounding her.

Angelica takes a deep breath and pulls out her pistol, pointing it at Gretchen. The girls, realizing only Angelica sees them, look on in despair and confusion. But out of the corner of her eye, Angelica sees something that dashes her hopes. Nora. Nora recognizes Gretchen. They’ve met… She needs to end this quickly.

“Stop!” Yells Gretchen, seeing the decision Angelica has made.

“I’m sorry,” Angelica whispers to her girls, and she means it. This won’t be pleasant. With Jonas’ arms still around her and the image of her newly born sensates in her mind, she points the gun towards herself, and pulls the trigger.

* * *

As soon as Angelica turns the pistol towards herself, Shelby turns away at speed, throwing her face into the nearest body uncaringly, hands coming up to cup her ears. It’s no good. Through her hands she hears the gunshot, and just as quickly a piercing pain shoots through her skull, above the din of the migraine, and the winds of the cathedral fade away and are replaced by the humid air of the parking lot where she and Dot had been talking. Arms tentatively come up to circle her shoulders, although the person she threw herself into is shaking subtly as well.

“Hey…” she hears Toni’s rough voice. She’s shaken too, and that calms Shelby somewhat. But she can’t help thinking of Becca despite the overload of information Angelica – _their mother? –_ had dumped on them. Seeing her turn that gun has kicked Shelby back a month in her recovery, and guilt and fear are eating at her subconscious.

“Hey,” Toni repeats. Shelby pulls her face out of Toni’s neck, blushing slightly as she realizes their proximity. That helps snap her out of it, and she takes a step back from Toni, who lets her go.

“I… it’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out.” Toni looks out of her depth comforting Shelby, and seems relieved when Dot steps in.

“We gotta regroup. The eight of us. We were eight, right?” Dot’s already thinking fast, although her face is pale, feelings the effects of Angelica’s death as well. Her analytical thinking is the last thing that tugs Shelby completely back to herself. She nods, and turns to thank Toni, but the girl is gone. She looks at Dot instead, determinedly.

“We need to figure these mechanics out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is that a plot I see? We have begun! Let me know what you think


	3. Sharing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cluster familiarizes themselves with their abilities, and rushes to Leah's aid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, thank you to mon, creeks, and Jess for the inspiration!!

“We need to figure these mechanics out.”

With that, Dot and Shelby turn to head to Shelby’s car, only to see Fatin there, smiling at them with no mirth in her gaze.

“Don’t ask me what I’m doing here, I don’t know how to turn this thing off,” Fatin beats them to the punch. “I need to get back to school.”

“Well, wait, we could use your input Fatin,” Dot starts. “We should get things straight.”

“Unlike me,” mumbles Fatin under her breath, but it goes unnoticed.

“So, did you recognize anyone else from the group?” Dot asks. “Shelby and I go to the same school in Texas.”

At that, Shelby steps forward with an outstretched hand, manners remembered. “Hi, I’m Shelby Goodkind, from your… cluster.”

“Right,” Fatin nods, shaking Shelby’s hand, “Fatin. Likewise. And yes, Dottie, I know the tall lanky girl, Leah. We also go to the same high school in the Bay.”

“Well that’s great!” exclaims Dot. “I mean. Well, not _great_ great. We did just see a woman shoot her brains out.” Shelby grimaces. “But I digress. You should get in contact with Leah, since we don’t really know how to… Visit, each other, I think the term was. With, like, a capital ‘V’. But yea, until we can do that, we should establish physical connections where we can.”

“Mhm, mhm, well that sound nice and all,” Fatin start, hands clasped together with both her index fingers pointed at Dot, “But it’s going to have to wait.”

Dot blinks at her. “What could possibly be more important that whatever supernatural shit is happening to us right now?”

“Well, Dorothy, everybody needs a good dicking down every once in a while. And I happen to have an appointment tonight for a different type of physical connection, so, if you want me in my right mind for this absolute shitshow, Leah’s going to have to wait.”

Shelby and Dot stare at Fatin incredulously. In the next second, she’s gone.

“Well…” Shelby drawls slowly. “Okay. Good to see what we’re working with here. She didn’t say no, though! I’m sure she’ll meet Leah tomorrow.” Dot just sighs.

“Can you drop me off at my place, please? I’ve left my dad long enough.”

Shelby nods, and two head to her car, minds still trying to grasp the impossibility of this all while having to go home and live their regular lives.

* * *

Leah leans up in the passenger seat of some dude’s car. She’s been trying her best to get her mind off of Jeffrey and now this whole… cluster… situation she’s found herself in. Yet despite her best efforts, she feels ashamed. She wishes she could borrow some of Fatin’s bravado – and now _there_ was a shocker. Seeing Fatin in that cathedral had been surprising to say the least, but they hadn’t been able to cross paths in the day at school, and so Leah went where she knew she’d see her; the party blasting music just a couple of houses down from the parked car. Once Leah got there, she saw Fatin enjoying herself with some nameless boy, and felt a spike of resentment in her heart – for Fatin’s ability to not obsess, of course, and still enjoy her life. So that brings her here, asking some asshole for a napkin, which he pitifully tries to provide.

After a weak goodbye and a halfhearted agreement to see each other later, the two get out of the car, and Leah pulls out her earphones. She just wants to be able to think without it hijacking her life and emotions, and she blasts the volume in an attempt to drown out her conflicted feelings.

Jeffrey. Her whole world had been centered down to him, and after the mess in the cathedral earlier today, Angelica had tilted that worldview on its head. More than that, her whole understanding of physics was being messed with, and she really didn’t know how to deal with all these shifts in her life. She wishes Fatin had given her the time of day at the party – and that’s something she never thought she’d say. But the girl oozes confidence, and Leah could really use some right now.

So she lets herself flow to the song. Forgets Angelica and her gun. Forgets the six strangers staring at each other in shock and apprehension. Forgets the girl jumping off the diving board and her sister. Forgets _him._

In that second, Leah opens her eyes, and sees a man with curly black hair standing on the sidewalk. Somehow, deep within her heart a faint voice whispers: _Jonas,_ as they make eye contact. And in the next second all she knows is pain as bright lights fill her vision and the honk of a car creeps above the blaring music.

* * *

_Jonas._

Toni bolts upright in Martha’s room, her heart beating fast and that name reverberating in her skull. She’s surprised she even fell asleep, after Martha and her had been wrenched out of bed and to Angelica. Just thinking of the now-dead woman makes Toni clench her jaw. She had seen the syringes and vials on the side of the tattered mattress. She had seen the sunken look in her eyes. And to top it all of, Angelica had looked at her and said _I am your mother._

The universe has some sick sense of humor.

Suddenly, Toni can’t sit still anymore. She feels the overwhelming urge to break something, but knows that would be a little much for Martha to wake up to. As if on cue, Martha mumbles something ineligibly and leans up on an elbow.

“Toni? You okay?”

“Yea, Martha,” Toni’s voice is hoarser than usual, and tight with repressed emotion. “Go back to sleep, everything’s fine.”

Martha shifts to lean against her headboard. “I don’t think I can, actually. I feel… angry, I think. Which makes me wonder… is that you?”

Toni looks at her in the dark. “I… I think so. I don’t know how this works.”

Martha sighs. “Toni-”

“Just,” Toni interjects. “Save it. I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Well, I know. But I want to sleep, and here we are. So, spill. There’s no shortage of things to discuss, you kno-”

“We don’t even know who these people are, Marty,” bursts Toni, like a dam that had been waiting for Martha’s nod to gush over, “And now we’re what? Linked to them whether we like it or not? Well, I _don’t_ fucking like it. They could be anyone,” growls Toni.

“Exactly,” Martha agrees, “They could be anyone!” Toni just looks at her in frustration.

“I love you and your rose-tinted glasses, Marty, you know I do. But there’s a way higher chance that I’m right about this and that we’re tied to people who are just going to make shit harder for us.”

Martha frowns and sighs at Toni. “Toni… just give them a chance. Haven’t you seen them enough times to know they’re just kids like us? Have you had _no_ good experiences with them? That girl Shelby saw some kids at school being assholes and made me feel better.” Toni scoffs. “And I somehow appeared in Nora’s room to see her drawing and we spoke a bit. She’s sweet. They both are. I don’t mind having them in my life, Toni, why do you?”

At that, Toni looks away, a bit of shame clouding her features. Nora _did_ help her through a panic attack, and Shelby seemed okay enough, if shaken after Angelica’s death. At the memory of Angelica Toni tenses right back up again.

“I don’t know, Marty…” Toni takes a moment to gather her thoughts as Martha waits patiently, face open and willing to listen. God, Toni loves her. “I just… Angelica, you saw her right? Her bed, and the… well. You know. If she’s like us, and she ended up like that… And we _really_ don’t know these girls, Martha, and this whole thing is just so fucking impossible, how do you want me to just acc-” Toni is interrupted as Martha grabs her arm and gently tugs her up into her bed, arms open. Toni doesn’t hesitate to fall into the hug.

“It’s going to be okay,” Martha assures her best friend as she strokes her hair, with none of the hesitance that Toni had when she comforted Shelby, “You’ll see. I have a good feeling.”

* * *

The next morning, Fatin is in her studio, practicing solo. She won’t admit it out loud, but she’s a bit worried about Leah. She had spotted the girl at the party last night, and she looked fucking miserable. Worse women would have felt guilty about it, but not Fatin. There was, after all, nothing she could do about it; happiness comes from within and yada yada. As Fatin continues playing, she allows herself to fall into the music and forget the past hectic twenty four hours. She wouldn’t admit it to many, but god does she love the sounds she can coax from her cello. She opens her eyes to flip the sheet music, only to spot an intruder sitting on the empty chair nearby.

It’s Leah, dressed in a hospital gown. She has her eyes closed and is swaying slowly to the music, so Fatin doesn’t deprive her of the respite. She continues playing, sneaking glances at the other girl every once in a while, waiting for the song to come to an end so she can question her about her beat-up form and hospital getup. If she slows down the song a little to let the tired-looking girl rest before the inquisition – well, nobody but her needs to know.

Fatin draws out the last note, and when she removes the bow from her cello, she’s in what she presumes is Leah’s hospital room. Leah finally opens her eyes, and they lock with Fatin’s.

“Leah,” Fatin breaks the silence, “What happened?”

Leah’s dry lips separate to answer after a beat of hesitation, but they snap back shut as her eyes dart to the corner of the room. Fatin snaps her neck around but doesn’t see anyone there.

“Is…. is someone here?” Fatin guesses.

“I...” Leah starts, then swallows and tries again. “Yes. He says his name is Jonas. The one Angelica mentioned.”

Fatin scrunches her eyes in concentration and draws the memory back up. Yea, she thinks she can remember a Jonas.

“Why can’t I see him?”

Leah waits, presumably listening to his answer. “Okay… okay. The three of us, we’re all… ‘sensates’. You and I are in what he calls the same cluster. He, however, is not, and the only reason he can… he can Visit me right now is because we made eye contact” Leah looks away from the corner and back to Fatin. “I saw him before the car hit me.”

“A car hit you?! Damn, Leah, how hard did you party?”

“Like you fucking care,” snaps Leah, and Fatin draws back in surprise.

“Okay, retract your talons girl, I haven’t done anything.”

Leah sighs. “It’s just… well, it doesn’t matter. Jonas is telling us to listen to him because we don’t have much time.”

“That seems to be a recurring theme,” mumbles Fatin, to which Leah just shrugs.

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. So, what’s happening right now is that you’re Visiting me, and so is he, but the two of you don’t have a link. But, if I… ‘let you in’, you can see him through me,” Leah’s voice is scratchy and she still looks exhausted, but her smart eyes are trained on Jonas and repeating his words back to Fatin attentively.

“Well,” Fatin smirks, “What’re you waiting for? Let me in.”

“Yea, that’s nice and all, but I have no idea how to do that,” Leah sighs, letting her eyes close. They open again and look at no one in particular. “This will have to do for now. Anyway, Jonas says another thing we can do is Share, with like a capital ‘S’, or whatever. That’s when… ‘sensates’ can share abilities with one another. And it can be more than that sometimes, almost like you’re channeling a whole other member of your cluster – okay, just wait one second,” Leah stops, cutting of her relaying of the message. “Why should we even trust you, Jonas?”

As if on cue, a doctor walks in followed by Leah’s parents who are looking at their daughter as though she’s a ticking time bomb. Fatin watches on, understanding that only Leah can see her.

“It’s good to see you alert,” starts the doctor. Leah just nods with apprehension. “I’m Dr. Daniel Faber, and I wish we could be meeting under better circumstances. We have… well, we have a bit of bad news. The MRI we took when you first came in just came back. It was supposed to be just routine, but we found a real anomaly in your brain scans.” Leah’s eyes snap over to Fatin’s in a panic, who is watching alertly. It feels like she’s watching an imminent train wreck.

“Your frontal cerebral orb seems to be merging hemispheres… if we leave it be, it will pose a real serious life risk to you and your continued functioning, but we can operate soon and get ahead of the growth.”

“Wait,” interjects Leah, who’s panic has only grown. “Operate?”

“Ask him if he means a lobotomy,” Fatin tells her, eyebrows pulled together. Leah relays the question. The doctor nods.

“That is correct. Forgive my bluntness, but your only chance moving forward is to sever the growing connection between the hemispheres. I’ve explained the situation to your parents and they agree we should operate immediately.”

“Wait, no, I’m fine, I swear,” Leah is in near full-fledged panic, and Fatin feels for her. They can’t exactly explain to the doctor that she’s a sensate and in no real danger despite what the brain scan shows. “Isn’t there any other – I mean, what if it’s a mistake, you know?” Leah stumbles, not knowing how to assure her parents and the doctor of what she knows without sounding completely out of her mind. “I promise I’m fine. Mom, Dad,” Leah looks at them imploringly, and shoots another panicked look at Fatin. “Please, tell him. I don’t want to do this.”

“Leah, honey, I know it sounds scary, but we’ve looked over all your options carefully. This is the only way to keep you safe. Please, sweetie, we’re so worried about you, and Dr. Faber knows what he’s talking about.”

“No!” exclaims Leah, “He doesn’t!” But her parents just look at her pityingly. Fatin wants to punch them. “I don’t _want_ to do this mom, it’s _my_ brain! Don’t I have a fucking say?!”

Her mom looks at her for a long beat. “I’m sorry honey, but no.” Fatin feels a noose tightening around her neck with those words. Leah’s mom turns to Dr. Faber. “Where did you say I could schedule it?”

“The earliest possible day is Wednesday. I was as flexible as I could knowing the time sensitive situation your daughter is in. You can arrange it right outside.” Leah’s parents nod as Leah looks on in despair.

“Fucking hell, she’s right here you assholes,” Fatin snarls pointlessly. Leah doesn’t look away from her parents as they throw one last look over their shoulder while leaving the room. Her breathing starts to pick up, and Fatin forces herself to calm down in the face of Leah’s overwhelming panic.

“Leah,” she says, grasping her shoulders gently. “Focus. Is Jonas still here?” Leah, still breathing heavily, glances to the corner and nods. “Okay, great. What is he saying?”

“He says…” she takes a deep breath to slow down her racing heart, and with a gulp continues. “He says that this is one of the things he was warning us about, and that not to trust Dr. Faber – fuck, he’s gone. Fatin, he just disappeared.”

“It’s okay, Leah, we’re going to fix this,” Fatin placates, sparing a brief thought to how fucking weird her life is right now. “I’ll… I don’t know how, but I’ll tell the others. We’ll get you out of here before they operate.” Leah looks at her, on the verge of crying, still breathing heavily. She nods slowly, face scrunched.

“Fatin,” she starts, “I’m sorry for – I don’t know. Never speaking to you.” Fatin waves away her apology.

“Same here. It doesn’t matter, we have bigger fish to fry – hey,” she grabs Leah’s chin and forces her to look at her determined face. “This is all new and scary and I have no idea what’s going on, but we’re going to get you out of here. We’ll Visit and Share and what the fuck ever and between the eight of us I’m sure we can come up with a plan. I’ll visit you in person soon, get the lay of the land. It’s gonna be epic.”

“Wait, no, don’t,” interjects Leah. Fatin drops her hand and raises an eyebrow. “Don’t come in person, it might make them suspicious.”

Fatin frowns, “Make who suspicious?”

“I… I don’t know. But Fatin, all this is really fucking weird. So just... don’t risk it. Just trust me, I have a bad feeling about you coming here. You can Visit me like this instead. And we can tell the girls like this as well.” Fatin can’t deny that this shit is indeed weird, so she just frowns and agrees.

“We’re going to get you out of here,” she repeats.

* * *

Shelby isn’t sure what’s happening with the other girls, but she feels a churning in her stomach that definitely isn’t because of something she ate. Her nerves aren’t helped by the fact that she’s currently sitting in her living room in front of her parents, who said that they wanted to discuss something with her.

Right.

“Shelby, I know you said you wanted to get permanents for your teeth, but your father and I have been discussing and we feel like we just want to double check that you’re certain about the decision to go ahead with it this summer. After all, summer is only four weeks away, so this really is a big decision,” her mother looks at her with care in her eyes, but Shelby’s thoughts are with her father. She knows he doesn’t want to double check, he just wants to make certain she got his metaphor. That she needs fixing. His eyes are boring into her as she straightens her spine despite already sitting prim and proper, and smiles as gratefully as she can at them.

“I’m sure mom, and I completely understand. I want this.” And she does, Shelby tells herself. Becca is dead, and she wants to change.

“Good,” her father replies. “I’m proud of you. This decision isn’t easy, but when we have flaws and it is within our power to fix them, we should.” He levels her with a serious look despite the calm smile on her face, and she readies herself for what he has to say next.

//

Toni finds herself sitting on a ridiculously comfortable couch in front of a blond couple she has never seen before in her life. The man looks like a Ken doll and is looking straight into Toni’s eyes.

“Shelby,” he says, and Toni tries not to jump in her seat. “I know how much this means to you. But make no mistake, it will hurt. Changing hurts.” Toni’s eyebrows narrow in confusion and can feel a familiar wave of… something, flowing off of this man. “But the pain is worth it, to be basking in the Lord’s light.” Toni tenses extremely, starting to understand. The woman beside him shoots him a confused look, but he continues to look straight at Toni. Or Shelby, rather.

“We should fix our flaws when we can.” Toni bristles, and opens her mouth to let out the tirade she has barely been keeping in.

“ _Toni,”_ hisses Shelby. Suddenly, Toni finds herself sitting next to the girl in question, out of the man’s gaze. “ _Don’t.”_

“ _What_ is he going on about, because it sounds-”

“Well its not,” Shelby shuts her down. “Don’t say anything…. Through me, or however this works. He’s done.” She turns back to the man Toni presumes is her father.

“I understand, Dad, and I haven’t changed my mind. This summer sounds great.” Toni glares at Shelby. She doesn’t fully understand what’s happening, but it doesn’t feel good. Shelby’s parents nod at their daughter, who gets up and exits the room, dragging Toni by the elbow in a surprisingly strong grip. She marches upstairs as calmly as she can while wrangling a girl like Toni, opens the door to her room, and shoves her in.

“What in the world are you doing here? You almost made me curse at my parents!” Shelby starts off strong, making Toni reel in self-defense.

“I had no idea what was going on! I blink and suddenly I’m sitting in front of your dad who’s lecturing me about fixing my flaws and sounding vaguely… well something, and my gut says that that something is homophobic.” Shelby huffs in response.

“Well, that’s not possible, as we’re literally just talking about my goddamn teeth.”

“…right,” Toni raises an eyebrow at her. “Sure. And what’s wrong with your teeth? And what the hell do they have to do with ‘the Lord’s light’” she drawls mockingly.

Shelby shifts, clearly not having though this far ahead. “I’ve just got a genetic issue that can be fixed.”

Suddenly, a new voice interjects within the tense atmosphere of Shelby’s room.

“Hey,” smirks a new girl from besides them. Toni takes a step back from Shelby and looks at the girl.

“Okay, I recognize you from yesterday in the cathedral, and I’m too tired to go over the whole spiel again so hi, I’m Toni, this is Shelby, what’s up.”

The girl looks taken aback by her straightforwardness, but appreciative. “Now that’s a drive I can get behind! Yes, hello, I’m Fatin, nice to meet you. I've actually already met tall, blonde, and gorgeous. I’ll save you some time myself and cut to the chase: we need to meet up. Leah – another girl in this whatever the fuck – is in trouble. We all need to Visit, and talk. Can you two like… I don’t know, focus or something. The rest of us are already Visiting.”

Toni huffs. “I can’t fucking find the control panel on this thing but-” But before she can finish her sentence, she finds herself in a nice room with Martha, Nora, and two other vaguely familiar girls.

//

Shelby looks at Fatin tiredly. “I’m not sure whether to thank you or strangle you for whatever bad news you’re about to hit us with. How’d you even Visit me so easily? Got any pointers?”

Fatin just smirks in response. “I don’t know, I just go where the sexual tension is.”

Shelby bristles and sputters, trying to correct how _wrong_ this girl is but Fatin just laughs at her exasperation.

“Relaax, blondie, I’m kidding,” but her smirk says otherwise. “Anyway, let’s go, no time to waste.”

* * *

The girls, minus Leah, are all gathered in Nora's room. Names have been swapped and introductions have been made, and now all eyes are on Fatin. Never one to shy away from attention, Fatin relays Jonas’ words and Dr. Faber’s diagnosis, explaining the situation as best as she can.

“So,” Fatin concludes, “We need to get her out before they operate on her needlessly.” General murmurs of agreement go around the room, but Rachel and Shelby are tense. Finally, Rachel speaks up.

“Okay, I’m just going to say what we’re all thinking,” the look on her face is unapologetic. “We have no idea what the fuck is happening to us, and with Leah’s MRI we now know that there are very real things happening to our actual brains. Why is it so wrong to stop it? It’s literally a fucking anomaly and I don’t know why you’re all so ready to walk around with merged hemispheres like that’s fucking okay!” Her voice picks up steam. “Don’t you fucking have lives this shit is interrupting? Aren’t y’all fucking distracted and weirded out?! I can’t keep getting surprised, I’m trying to make the fucking Olympics. Why are you not questioning any of this?!”

“Honestly… I think Rachel has a point,” Shelby adds softly. “This a _doctor_ , and we’re just teenagers in AP Bio. Why should we be stopping this? And honestly, this sort of… transcendence, I think Angelica called it, it feels… well, it feels blasphemous.”

Toni rolls her eyes and the rest of the girls fidget, looking for a way to answer Shelby and Rachel’s questions. Toni goes to rant, but she’s interrupted by Martha.

“But she doesn’t want to do it,” whispers Martha. Everyone looks over to her. “If you two want to get lobotomized… well, okay, I guess. But this is clearly something that is not within the doctor’s expertise and most importantly, Leah doesn’t want this. We should help her.”

“Well, _you_ can help her,” barks Rachel. “I’ve got my life to get back to and this is all ridiculous.”

“No, what’s ridiculous is you not listening to the fucking person who warned us about this shit in the first place,” Fatin argues back, not backing down from Rachel. “Angelica _said_ that people would be out to get us and that its _dangerous_. It’s literally happening right now and you still won’t help Leah.” Rachel goes to answer back bitingly, and suddenly the girls are all talking over each other, arguing.

“Guys,” Nora says gently, trying to get their attention, but to no avail. Dot spots what Nora has, and helps her out.

“GUYS,” Dot bellows, making the room come to a halt. She gestures over to Nora’s bed, where Leah is laying down, staring in front of her fearfully.

//

“Leah,” Dr. Faber says, walking into her room. “I know you probably have many questions, so I’m here to answer them for you. I want you to know that this is all for your own good. And please, call me Daniel. All my patients do.”

Leah has spent the day in a panic, not allowed to leave her room. She hopes Fatin has gotten the rest of the girls to come up with a plan, but she doesn’t even know what could save her right now. Suddenly, movement catches her attention, and she looks to her right to see seven girls listening to the doctor. It makes her feel braver, and she turns back to Dr. Faber, who she refuses to think of as Daniel, getting her shivering under control.

“Well, then explain it to me,” she says defiantly. “What’s happening to my brain, and why are you so sure that I need a lobotomy. Isn’t that a huge operation?”

The doctor sighs and pulls out Leah’s MRI from his folder. “Here,” he says, pointing to a scary splatter of colors at the front of the image, “is your frontal lobe. This scan shows that you have Undifferentiated Frontal Lobe Syndrome. This is extremely serious, and if left untreated, will lead to extreme hallucinations and synesthesia. You will also experience a severe loss of identity… and untreated patients have died within six months of diagnosis.”

Leah sucks in a deep breath, and the action is mirrored by the other seven girls.

“Tell me, Leah,” he continues, and looks at her imploringly, “Have you been experiencing any hallucinations?”

Leah looks raptly into his eyes, mind whirling with implications. _Does he,_ she thinks, fear growing, _does he know about sensates?_

“I…” Leah starts, and tries again. “No,” she says as confidently as she can. “No, I haven’t.”

The doctor tuts. “Lying isn’t good for either of us, Leah. Either way, I’m sure you understand now the risk of leaving you untreated. I hope this clarifies any doubts you had.” He smiles at her, and it leaves a sticky feeling on the back of Leah’s neck. She watches him leave with apprehension, and Dot follows him to the door. She sticks her head out before turning back to Leah.

“Dude,” Dot says, shaking her head. “You’ve got like three security guards outside your room. This is really fishy. And you said they took an MRI when you first came in? That’s not normal procedure.”

Leah’s trying not to cry, but some of the tears can’t be stopped. “I don’t…” she takes a gulp. “I think he knows… I don’t understand, something feels extremely wrong here and I can’t explain it.” She looks around the room desperately. “Don’t you feel it?”

“I think I can help with that, actually,” Nora speaks up, and this time she doesn’t have to fight for the attention. All the girls are focused on her. “So, you remember the lady who walked into the cathedral with security guards? I’ve met her once before.”

“Nora!” Dot exclaims, “We could use literally _any_ information, why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

“Well I was trying!” Nora defends, “You just wouldn’t listen. But there’s more than that… I saw her, Gretchen, once again later, and she was talking to Dr. Faber, Leah.” Leah’s eyes widen in fear and the gravity of the situation seems to fall on all the girls. “They know each other.”

“That can’t be good,” whispers Toni.

“Wait, so what are we saying?” interjects Rachel. “That this is some big ploy to carve our brains out or something?”

“Honestly, it checks out,” Fatin says, looking at Rachel defiantly. A silence falls in the room where the girls have gathered around Leah’s hospital bed and Nora’s bed. Leah is thinking, and thinking, and thinking.

“Aren’t I, though,” Leah whispers. “Aren’t I hallucinating?” She’s crying now. “I mean, are you all even here? What’s going _on with me.”_

“Well, fuck,” Fatin grabs Leah’s attention. “Trust me, Leah, we’re all thinking the same shit. But I doubt you and I are having a joint hallucination because that’s an even weirder idea than what’s actually happening.” She hesitates, before grabbing Leah’s hand and carrying on. “And… I’m sorry. If I hadn’t ignored you at the party last night, you wouldn’t be doubting that this isn’t all a hallucination. But trust me, it’s gonna be real when we break you out. No hallucination can do that.”

“Yea,” Toni joins in. “And trust me, your imagination couldn’t come up with people like me and Marty here.” She smirks, throwing her arm over Martha’s shoulder. That brings some chuckles to the room.

“Okay, so what we do know is that there are people out to get us, and they possibly know about Leah and Nora already, so we-” Dot is already planning, but she’s interrupted by Leah, who’s still deep in her own thoughts.

“Please,” interjects Leah, looking at the cluster with scared eyes. “Please, get me out of here. Help me.”

The girls are all silent, looking at Leah, unfamiliar emotions swirling in their chests. Rachel and Shelby look at each other.

“Well darn,” Shelby interrupts the silence. “I do believe it’s that simple. I’m in.” Rachel grimaces, and nods in agreement.

“Everybody else?” Dot asks, and when she receives everybody’s nods, she clasps her hand together. “Well, we’re going to need a plan. And I have an idea.” Leah feels hope building in her chest as she looks around the room at these strangers who are listening to Dot’s plan with rapt attention. When Dot finishes, she adds, “Obviously it needs a bit of tweaking, but its simple enough. I think we can pull it off.”

“Now this I can get behind,” Rachel nods, adding, “It _is_ a simple plan, but the hard part is its execution. We need to practice, until we have Visiting and Sharing on lock.” She looks around the room. “We have until Wednesday, which gives us the rest of today, Monday, and Tuesday. No slacking.”

Toni rolls her eyes. “You’re the one who wasn’t on board. We’re ready. Let’s do this.”

Leah smiles shakily at the girls, tears still not faded away. “Thank you,” she whispers. “Thank you.”

* * *

The girls do indeed practice. They focus on being able to Visit at will, which most find to be easier than Sharing. They soon discover that Sharing can happen consciously, where the person lending their abilities feels present in the moment of the receiver utilizing them, or accidentally, where they suddenly have abilities and skills they never had prior, with the abilities’ original user none the wiser it’s being Shared.

“Let’s call the positions Receiver and Lender,” Dot says, and no one objects.

But it doesn’t all go smoothly. One of the worst moments is when Toni blinks and looks down to find herself in the middle of a ridiculously hard math test that is definitely not her class. Nora sheepishly apologizes for pulling Toni into the situation before nudging her out. Another time, Fatin is on top of a boy (because damn if she doesn’t have stress to release), and looks down to see Dot’s face, which surprises the fuck out of both her and Dot. Later, they joke the situation away, Fatin teasing Dot who is significantly less used to sexual situations. To her pleasant surprise, Dot rises to the moment, teasing Fatin right back.

But they also get shit right. Most of the girls can speak Ojibwe at will, Receiving from Martha and Toni. Rachel borrows Toni’s aggression in some of her practices, which she appreciates but would never tell the girl. Annoyingly, Toni sometimes Visits Shelby for brief moments, raising an eyebrow at her whenever her dad says something bigoted. Well, Shelby actually comes to find it a bit funny, and it relaxes her shoulders around her family.

All throughout, the girls take turns Visiting Leah, keeping her company. Toni vents about basketball practice being hard enough without practicing “psychic abilities”, Dot becomes the perfect bedside companion, somehow taking Leah’s mind off of her situation, Nora reads to her from her favorite book of poems, Rachel ridiculously planks at her bedside, Shelby discusses what song she should sing at her pageant, Fatin does her hair and makeup, and Martha brings cute little animals she happens across for Leah to pet.

She feels better every day. Which explains why shit suddenly goes sideways.

//

Dr. Faber enters her room late Tuesday afternoon, grim look on his face.

“I’m sorry Leah, but we’re going to have to speed up the operation timetable. It’s happening today. Now.” Two strong-looking nurses walk in, clearly expecting a struggle.

“What?!” Leah jolts, jumping out of bed. “No, it’s tomorrow, why’re you rushing this? Where are my parents?”

“Your health has taken a dip, so we have no choice. It’s for your own good,” Dr. Faber says in an infuriatingly calm and condescending tone as the nurses grapple with Leah. Leah looks at the looming sedative and jumps quickly in her mind, Visiting everyone.

She appears in front of each of the girls, eyes wide and imploring. “It’s happening today!” she yells, causing them to jump. She doesn’t care what she’s interrupted. “Right now, they’re fucking sedating me, they’re-”

//

Leah disappears from in front of Dot, presumably passed out. Dot quickly Visits Fatin, who is already nodding at her.

“Go, now.”

“Already on it,” Fatin says, grabbing the necessary clothes and heading for her car. She spares a look back at her cluster, who have all opened up Visiting channels, and looks at them each in turn.

“Operation Prison Break is a go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter was really hard to write, and I actually wanted the rescue to happen in it. But it became a mammoth of a chapter, and it felt right to cut it off where I did. Also, Shoni is accidentally turning into a slow burn, and dotin just sped up. I have no control over what happens. I hope you enjoyed it!


	4. Operation Prison Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cluster goes to save Leah. More things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a big thank you to the best beta readers mon, creeks, jess, and kthegod!!! Y'all are so amazing.
> 
> also, a special shout out to icarus aka Nightblaze on ao3, whose recent dot fic regarding the name Dorothy/Dot inspired a painful line here. You should check it out, its called 'your name is dorothy'. While you're there, read all their fics. You're welcome

Leah comes to slowly. It feels like there are anvils weighing on her eyelids as they crack apart, and for a split second she feels the fear of God hit her. The plan didn’t work. The girls she had been growing closer to have been cut out of her life, out of her brain.

But as her eyes open, she sees Dot standing at the foot of her bed, and immediately feels the urge to cry. She goes to tell her that she’s pretty much the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen, but Dot quickly shushes her.

“Dr. Faber and some nurses are just behind that curtain,” Dot gestures with her head. Leah nods, but she’s still thinking, _I am so glad to see you._ Dot throws her a distracted smile, as though she knows how Leah feels, and Leah can tell she’s in a handful of places at once.

“Let’s get this party started Leah. Remember, don’t fight it,” Dot says, looking deep into Leah’s eyes. Leah nods in response. Dot hesitates for a second before placing her hands just below Leah’s knees and leaning in gently.

“We’re all ready. The day we lost doesn’t matter, we’ve got you.”

Leah nods shakily once again, and takes a deep breath.

//

Rachel opens her eyes on Leah’s surgery bed. She can already feel the drugs that they shot into Leah’s system course through her own body. But the dosage had been meant to knock out Leah’s gangly limbs, not Rachel’s athletic physique. She still feels incredibly drowsy, but she’s able to throw her legs over the side of the bed, something Leah wouldn’t have been able to do. She’s felt worse than this on days where she had forced her own fingers down her throat. What that says about her, she doesn’t want to dwell on. At least not right now.

Before she heads for the door, Dot helps her carefully remove the IV. Finally unshackled, Rachel shakily but quietly walks towards the door, an eye on the curtain in apprehension. But no one notices the moving patient, and she feels both her and Leah get less drowsy by the minute. Rachel opens the door without any interruptions.

//

Shelby steps out into the hallway and straightens her spine. So far so good. She channels every bit of confidence she has as well as the pageant walk that works so well as _get out my way and don’t interrupt me._ It has the same effect even with Shelby in a hospital gown. Honestly, she spares a thought to Toni who had endlessly mocked her for doing pageants, and smirks happily.

 _How’s this for real-world application,_ she thinks gleefully as she struts down the hallway so confidently no nurse or visitor questions where she should be. Shelby makes it to the elevator and down to the ground floor with no issues. As she steps out into the hallway, she knows it’s going to be much harder here. She can see the glass doors that exit onto the street all the way down the hallway, shining like a tempting beacon, and she shoves away any lasting nerves as she continues to walk confidently towards their freedom. Just over halfway there, she passes by the security guard’s desk, hoping he doesn’t question her. But alas, no plan goes perfectly.

“Hey,” a security guard calls out, “Hey, you, wait a second!” Shelby keeps her head down, but the security guard is now off his feet, and she feels panic grab her as she suddenly doesn’t know where to go.

“Don’t worry,” another voice call outs, “I’ve got her.” And suddenly Fatin is there, wearing scrubs and pushing a wheelchair, which she scoops Shelby into, nodding at the guard who backs down.

//

Leah’s heart is beating a mile a minute as Fatin swoops in and pushes her towards the exit. That had been way too close.

“You’re here,” Leah gasps out. “Like, actually, physically here. Holy shit, you made it. I could kiss you.”

Fatin smirks, “Don’t make promises you won’t keep.” As she pushes Leah to safety, Martha, Nora, and Dot walk in formation around them, directing her to hide her face left and right as they spot security cameras.

“I’ve got an Uber pulled up outside,” Fatin tell her, “We’re almost there.”

“You had to go and say that,” Dot grumbles. “Don’t you know not to tempt the fates?”

But the glass doors open up in front of them, and Fatin can feel her heartbeat in her mouth as she sees the Uber parked just down the street. Fatin pushes Leah across the large sidewalk and to the car, and right when she thinks they’ve made it, a large hand clamps down on her shoulder.

“Hey,” a guard says as he turns her around, “She can’t lea-”

//

Toni feels a hand clamp onto her shoulder and lets loose a wicked grin. Honestly, when the girls had made and modified the plan, she couldn’t believe her ears when they asked for fighting prowess. All her life, Toni had been getting into fights and gotten chastised for it. She’s released her rage in all the wrong places, hurt people she loves, and been told time and time again to reign it in and stop throwing hands. But now, the cluster is _asking_ her to fight, and she couldn’t be happier. Maybe becoming a sensate _was_ actually good for her. And now its her time to shine.

She spins around as he turns her and brings a knee up into his crotch quickly. He doubles over, holding the place in question and groaning in pain. Toni shoves him away now that he’s at her height, but to his credit he hobbles back over to her, not down for the count. Well, neither is Toni. She brings her elbow up to his nose then quickly throws her body into his midriff, tackling him to the ground as he’s disgruntled and can’t decide which area of pain to hold onto.

//

Fatin picks herself up off the security guard and grins shakily. “You feral child, I fucking love you,” she says as she turns back to Leah and pushes her the rest of the way to the car, grin widening when she hears Toni cackle behind her.

She opens the door and lifts Leah gently but quickly into the Uber, and tells him to hurry. As he drives away, she pulls Leah into her arms and looks behind as the hospital and hunched over guard disappear into the distance. She holds Leah close to her chest, the girl still shaking with both adrenaline and relief.

//

Leah tucks her head into Fatin’s neck. She can’t believe it worked. She’s safe. Tears are unabashedly streaming down her face and Fatin doesn’t comment, just holds her close. It feels so weird to be physically there with her, when they had only been Visiting before. And while Visiting broke all of their comprehensions of time and space when they found out they could reach out and touch each other even when not in the same city, this was different. Being in a car with Fatin in the Bay was different. She can feel her clusters’ presence in the car as well, all high on adrenaline and happiness.

“Thank you,” she whispers, still buried into Fatin’s neck. She feels Dot’s hand on her shoulder, and she smiles through her tears.

“Thank you so much,” she sobs.

The cluster all look at each other, and in the shared looks there is a shared feeling. Of protectiveness, of hope, of wonder at success. Maybe, of love.

* * *

Once Fatin sneaks Leah into her room, the girls all gather around to discuss what happens next. Fatin quickly explains that she can't keep Leah for long especially since Leah’s parents are soon going to be looking for her once word gets out that she escaped right before the lobotomy.

“How long do you think you can hide her here?” asks Dot.

“Not too long to be honest, my parents sort of pay attention around the house and usually they’d be more than willing to welcome Leah but not with her parents out looking for her.”

The cluster falls silent, thinking about what to do next. The high off of their victory has slightly abated and now they're worried about logistics. No one rushes forward to suggest a solution; everyone's houses are either too far away and improbable to get to undetected or have parents who would not approve. Dot snaps them out of their silence.

“Okay,” she says, clapping her hands together in finality, “We'll figure it out sooner or later. Everyone keep an eye and ear out in the next couple of days for any possible solutions.” The girls nod in agreement.

* * *

Opening her door after a long day at school, Dot actually feels good. They had saved Leah, who spent a peaceful night at Fatin’s where Dot Visited a majority of the time, and despite the exhaustion yesterday brought, Dot’s mood couldn’t be brought down after such a successful plan.

Walking into her living room, she tosses a happy greeting to her dad who tries to return it. He was always trying, and Dot loves him so much. She didn’t know she had space in her heart for her cluster because her Dad was such a large part of it, but it turned out to be quite spacious, and she really enjoys holding them all in there, with room to spare.

“I sent Matteo home just now,” her Dad informs her as she comes back into the room after setting her stuff down.

“Dad,” scolds Dot gently, “It’s only 3:30.”

At his silence, Dot feels her heart sink. Damn the fates.

“C’mere, Dottie, sit down where I can see you.” Dot obeys, sitting gently on her father’s bed, careful not to jostle him, and feels her sunken heart disappear through the floor at the devastated look on his face.

“This is the end of the tour, Dot.”

Dot can feel the blank look on her face as she stares at her Dad, her entire life. She knows what he means, but she doesn’t want to know. She could be wrong.

“What do you mean, Dad?”

As he describes the beautiful day outside, Dot can feel herself drifting further away from her body in denial.

“I would love to go down to Cass Lake and do a little bit of fishing.” At the longing in his voice, Dot’s jaw clenches, hates that she has to keep him tethered to the earth. Her voice only slightly shakes when she tells him that he can’t do what he wants.

“Yes, I can,” he whispers, and turns over his right hand to reveal the vial of morphine. “But I’m gonna need your help.”

Dot can feel her lower lip shaking, and suddenly a warm thigh appears next to hers, pushing softly against her. A hand falls on her thigh, silent. Dot thinks its Fatin, but she can’t look away from her dad to check.

“No,” the tremor in her voice is more palpable now, despite Fatin’s reassuring hand. “I’m not doing that. You can have one, maybe two more years.” She looks at him imploringly, willing him to see it the way she does. That he’s her whole life.

“Dorothy,” whispers Fatin next to her. It’s so gentle, and she doesn’t say anything else, but with that little word – her name, the name her father gave her, Dorothy Campbell – in Fatin’s mouth, Fatin provides a little voice in her head telling her that that’s not necessarily true. Her life has expanded, multiplied by eight. But she can’t lose him. She still can’t lose him, and she doesn’t look away from her dad’s face, refusing to look at Fatin.

Just as she’s trying to get her dad to believe in a future that doesn’t exist, he coughs and wheezes, proving just how fickle her hopes are.

“Listen, I didn’t want to do this until I knew you were gonna be safe.”

“No,” whispers Dot. She needs him to stop going down this path and come back to her.

“But I’ve seen to it,” now it’s his voice that’s wavering. “I’ve seen to it.” His voice breaks and along with it her heart, as he shoots her a painful smile that disappears quickly as he tries to hold back his tears. Dot is gently shaking her head. She can’t do this. She just can’t.

She feels some members of the cluster appear slowly throughout the room. Dot must have been silently calling out to them, because she can’t imagine they would want to be here for this. She feels Leah’s quiet presence behind her, and Shelby and Martha’s kindness in the corner of the room. Toni's strong energy standing just off to her right. She thought she would want to be alone, but she can’t imagine doing this. They feel so much like a part of her, and she can’t do this alone. She can’t.

“I have all the papers ready. You’re set to be emancipated.” Dot’s lips are still shaking as he gently puts the vial in her hand. “This has to be the end,” he says gently, so gently. She accepts the vial from him, grips it in her hand, half a mind to break it and end this favor before it starts. But of course she doesn’t. She would never take that away from him. “Please,” he adds softly, setting the final nail in his coffin as well as Dorothy’s. She exhales sharply, and looks up at the ceiling, anywhere but at her cluster. She stands up, goes to the small table to plug her phone into their speakers and play his favorite song.

As _O’ Holy Night_ plays gently throughout their small home, she hears his gentle exhale of surprised happiness and sits back down beside him and next to Fatin, looking at the syringe and morphine she’s holding in her shaking hands.

“I can’t,” she says, not to him, but to her cluster. “I don’t want to do this.” She feels Leah’s hand placed softly on her shoulder, and tries to focus on that and Fatin’s steady warmth. But her hands are too shaky to hold the vial and syringe still. Maybe it’s because with the appearance of the cluster in her life she had allowed herself to hope, that she can have friends as well as family. That because of Visiting and Sharing, she would still have time to be with her dad while seeing what the world has to offer. She had hoped, she had envisioned a future, of her growing close to the cluster while taking care of her dad. Maybe that’s what’s playing into her hands which are shaking simply too hard to aim properly for the vial and then the drip, as the rest of her is too still. Suddenly, she feels another set of small yet rough hands come down gently on her shaky ones. She looks up at Toni, who’s looking at her with a steady face. “Do you know how?” Dot asks quietly, too quietly, but Toni nods anyway.

As Toni steadily injects the morphine into her Dad’s IV drip, Dot can’t help but think of what he’s seeing. It’s still Dot doing this. It’s still Dot lifting her hands up and pulling the trigger. Leah had explained the nature of Sharing as Jonas explained it to her – what non-cluster people see is the physical user. And far away in a corner of Dot’s mind in which she sees what her dad sees, she’s looking at her own hands administering the final blow. She’s killing him.

“Dorothy Jane Campbell,” her father says as Dot pushes the morphine into his system. “I have loved being your daddy.” Now they’re both crying, and Dot can hear sniffling coming from the corner of the room.

“Okay,” her dad whispers on an exhale. He takes her vile hands in his. A distant part of her feels Toni walk to the corner of the room to Martha and Shelby, but she focuses on the feeling of Fatin next to her, of Leah behind her, of her dad holding her hands for the last time.

“I want you to listen to me.”

And she does. She listens to his dreams for her, the last things he’ll ever say to her, and prints them on the inside of her heart where he belongs.

“Dad,” she whispers, before he can close his eyes. She needs to let him know that the world has already started calling, that she’s already started answering. “I just want you to know,” she takes a deep breath that’s still too shaky, tears only barely kept at bay while her father looks at her, and one escaping outside of her hold, “I have good people looking out for me. I’m going to be okay.”

Her dad smiles so softly, “That’s all I want for you. Live life with them, okay?” Dot nods as he closes his eyes. As his body slowly stills, Dot can’t help the sobs wracking through her body and her breathing that comes heavier. It’s done. He’s gone. Her whole body is shaking now, and she can’t see through her tears, but she feels Fatin’s arms come around her and she falls into them willingly.

“I need some space,” she somehow gets out after a long moment of being held, and Fatin nods gently, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek, which Leah follows with one to her forehead, before they both disappear. A glance at the corner of the room tells her that Shelby, Martha, and Toni are gone too, and Dot allows herself to completely break down, placing her head gently on her father’s chest as she cries her heart out.

* * *

As Shelby leaves Dot and her father alone, she finds herself in what she recognizes as Martha’s room. Looking around, she only sees Toni.

“Where’s Martha?” Shelby asks while wiping at her eyes. Toni’s own eyes are stony, and she can see the familiar anger humming through the girl’s body.

“She’s in the next room with her mom. After that… yea, I’d want to hug my mom too.” Shelby nods slowly, wondering briefly what that says about herself that she’s not currently doing the same thing.

“What’re you even doing here anyway? Don’t you have to go lick the boots of your parents or something?” Toni lashes out angrily. Before Shelby can respond to her absolutely undeserved attacked, Toni continues. “How come you were even there at Dot’s? Doesn’t that go against your beliefs or whatever?”

Shelby has learnt enough about Toni due to a ridiculous amount of time spent together that she’s just lashing out after that difficult moment at Dot’s. But Shelby can’t help but reel back and defend herself in turn.

“You know what? I’m sick of you shitting on my beliefs when you don’t know _anything_ about them.” Toni scoffs at that, which Shelby promptly ignores in favor of continuing, “And where do you feel like you have the right to talk to me like that? “ _Bootlicker_ ” _?_ Listen, I’m sorry for what we just went through, but if you think I’m not going to be there for Dottie in such a hard moment then maybe you don’t know _shit_ about me, not just my religion.” Shelby expects another verbal onslaught in return, but she just gets silence. Toni leans back slightly, impressed look on her face accompanying the small grin and raised eyebrows. She seems to have calmed down in the face of Shelby’s own outburst. Shelby likes to think that she made Toni understand that she was there for her friend, but that’s probably wishful thinking. She gets her answer in the low whistle that Toni lets out.

“You say your prayers with that mouth?” She asks jokingly, and Shelby might have whiplash from this conversation and her own emotions, because she can’t help the smile that slips onto her face in return.

And that’s what its been like, with Toni. This high-paced back and forth, sometimes teasing, sometimes serious. Shelby loves it. Not that she’d ever let Toni know.

“I think,” Toni starts, before biting her lip and stopping. Shelby can’t help her eyes that flicker down to Toni’s mouth at the action. “I think,” Toni continues, which prompts Shelby to snap back up to Toni’s face, who thankfully hadn’t noticed her staring, “That maybe you should consider moving in with Dot.” Shelby tilts her head in confusion, feeling a fire of indignation growing in her belly. Somehow, Toni spots it as well.

“Hear me out. Dot’s obviously going to offer her place to Leah, if we can get her there. And you two are already in the same town. Wouldn’t that be good for you?” Toni says. “And for Dot,” she adds quickly. Shelby stays silent, staring at Toni.

“Why would I need to move out, aside from helping Dot in this transition.” Shelby looks at Toni’s jaw that tightens as she considers her next words. She feels Toni walking on a tightrope, which is rare for the girl who usually just spits out what she’s thinking, to hell with consequences.

“You know why,” Toni finally settles on, looking seriously at Shelby. Their eye contact doesn’t waver, as they stare at one another, daring the other to break first. If Shelby wasn’t highly aware of how bad it is for her teeth, she’d be working her own jaw like Toni is. In the end, it's Martha that interrupts them.

“Hey…” she trails off, noticing she’s interrupted something. She looks over at Toni worryingly. “I wanted to check on how you’re doing. That was rough.” At the reminder, some of that steel returns to Toni’s eyes. Instead of answering Martha’s concerns, Toni tells Martha her idea of Shelby going to Dot’s.

Martha’s silent for a moment, taking it in. “I think Toni's right,” she says finally, surprising Shelby. Shelby looks at her in confusion and slight betrayal, to which Martha just shrugs. “Your parents do kinda suck.” At Shelby’s indignant gasp of “Martha!” Toni lets out a bark of laughter, softening the tension in the room. Martha looks at Shelby sheepishly, who is still half-glaring at the girl. “I just want what’s best for you,” she explains, washing away most of Shelby’s indignation. But some remains.

“How do they suck? They love _everyone,_ especially their children,” Shelby insists. She’s not sure who she’s trying to convince.

“Unconditionally?” Toni asks knowingly, snapping Shelby’s mouth shut. She breathes in heavily, and Toni and Martha back down, feeling like they may have overstepped. Shelby’s not sure that they have.

“Listen,” she says, “Let’s just put a pin in this for now. I need to go.” Immediately, she cuts their Visit, falling back on her bed in Texas, mind working fast.

* * *

Nora sits in the booth, pushing her pancakes around in her plate. Her mind is rushing a mile a minute and she feels her heart hammering in her chest. She tries to calm down and think logically, objectively. Objectively, something is going on with the cluster; she feels Dorothy calling from across the link. Objectively, that’s good for her right now. They’re not here to interrupt.

“So have you thought about what I said?” Gretchen says from across the booth. Nora lifts her eyes up from her plate to look at the cunning ones across from her. She had weighed up all the pros and cons. And she knows what Gretchen said was true.

“If you keep your promise,” Nora says hesitantly. Gretchen gives her a solid nod.

“You know I will.”

Nora’s not sure if she knows that. But she thinks Gretchen is a woman of her word.

“Are any of them here right now?” Gretchen asks.

Nora pushes Rachel out of her mind, who has been trying to get her attention since she appeared a couple of seconds ago (probably sensing Nora’s inner turmoil), sitting next to her in the booth.

“No,” Nora lies. Gretchen looks at her for a long moment, before presenting her palm face up to Nora. In it lies a small pill.

“This is a blocker,” Gretchen explains to her. “For as long as it’s in your system, your mind will operate as any other Homo sapien. That is to say – your cluster can’t get in contact with you while you’re on blockers, nor can any other Homo sensorium who you've established a connection with, myself included.” Nora pushes aside the fear that springs forward in her belly at the notion of not having constant access to her cluster.

She focuses on the technicalities to quell her fear. “Homo sensorium?”

“Scientific term for a sensate.” Gretchen tilts her head as she gazes at Nora. “Blockers are unavoidable for the next step. You can still back out.”

Nora’s not sure that that’s true, and she can see Rachel talking next to her, imploring her not take it, but she can’t hear her. She’s gotten quite good at blocking out unwanted noise over the years. She doesn’t look at her twin as she takes the blocker from Gretchen’s palm, twists the small pill around in her hand.

Her decision’s been made. She swiftly takes the blocker and follows it down with a sip of water. Instantly, Rachel disappears, and Gretchen smiles at her. She turns her outstretched palm to offer a shake. Nora complies.

“Now,” Gretchen says, “I want you to listen carefully.”


	5. The Wilds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remaining cluster regroups. Fatin saves the day

Dot sits on the couch in her now too large living room. She can’t handle all this space. She’s been staring at the spot her dad’s bed used to occupy, her mind still on the court case. Her dad had been working so hard – all without her even realizing – alongside Matteo, to get her emancipated upon his death. And now she was. The only Campbell.

Suddenly, the room is too small and suffocating, and she goes to the first place she thinks of. 

However, there’s no peace and quiet to be found Visiting Fatin and Leah, though. Which might just be a good thing. The quiet had been leaving too much room for emotions to get up close and personal. Here in Fatin’s room, however, she immediately finds herself in the midst of something monumental, it seems, cause she’s never seen Fatin this angry, and Leah stands in front of her taking it all in.

“How fucking DARE he,” Fatin is seething, and Dot catches Leah’s eye who just signals her to sit and listen, which she does. She’s not sure Fatin notices her until the girl looks directly at her and continues venting in stride.

“They’ve been together for 27 _years,_ ” Fatin gets out through gritted teeth, “And he’s just doing a goddamn skank tour of the East Bay.”

“Your… father?” Dot asks, looking at Leah for confirmation, but Fatin continues.

“ _Yes_ , the goddamn bastard. I was checking on his stupid watch bid and I saw all these goddamn nudes. _Asshole._ ”

“She wants to send them to his whole contact list,” supplies Leah mildly, and Fatin turns on her while Dot lets out a bark of laughter.

“You’re saying that like you don’t agree with me?” Leah just shrugs and starts to open her mouth before a sudden new presence in the room distracts them. As one, they turn to see Rachel pacing a hole in the carpet, hands twisting together. She’s so frazzled that the three of them are immediately on their feet.

“Rachel?” Asks Dot tentatively, and the girl in question whips her head to Dot as though noticing her for the first time.

“Holy shit!! Fucking finally, I’ve been trying to reach you all for a whole fucking day!”

Leah scrunches her face, “Wait, why weren’t you abl-” but Rachel barrels on.

“It’s that bitch from the cathedral, she fucking took Nora!! She took Nora, and my parents think she’s on some goddamn elite retreat in Montana, _and Nora went with her.”_

“Hold up, Rachel, take a breath.” Dot can feel herself returning to her role, and it helps fill the gaping wound she hasn’t really finished licking yet. All this hustle and bustle has turned her thoughts away from her dad, but her worry for Nora is cutting even over that din. “From the top. When did this happen? Actually, wait.” Dot shoots a look at Fatin and Leah, and within a moment they’re reaching out to the rest of their cluster, who appear in the now crowded room.

Nora’s absence is immediately obvious to everyone.

“Rachel, tell us what happened.”

Rachel recounts what she heard, interspersed with gentle reminders from the others to not leave any detail out. Fatin disappears quickly and returns with a glass of water which Rachel gulps down only to continue in stride. To be honest, Dot can’t really believe their luck. Everything is happening to them so fast. It feels like just yesterday they had met Angelica, just an hour ago they had saved Leah, just a moment ago her dad… Well. Looking around at her cluster, she takes in every detail and every word Rachel is saying. When her gaze lands on Toni, she sees the girl jerk her head towards Dot and quickly look away. That won’t do. But it’s a problem for another day.

Finally, Rachel comes to a stop, chest heaving, and immediately Toni is speaking.

“Wait, this happened _yesterday?_ Why didn’t you come to us directly?!”

“Because I went to fucking find her! I went to the restaurant and they were fucking gone and I asked around and ran everywhere and they were fucking GONE-”

“Breathe,” Martha tries to remind her, but Rachel keeps going.

“No, Marty, I tried, I tried to Visit when I wasn’t trying to convince my parents that she’s not on some retreat, but I _couldn’t._ I tried and there was like – this wall, and I couldn’t focus on any of you but I could feel you there.”

“Maybe it’s ‘cause you’re twins as well as sensates so these- these blockers affected the both of you at first?” Leah’s best guess makes sense to the cluster, but it does nothing to calm Rachel down. There’s a moment of silence as Rachel continues to pace. Seemingly wearing herself out, she finally turns to look at everyone else, a defeated look on her face.

“What…” Rachel’s voice has lost a lot of its steam, and she seems to deflate, barely getting out the rest of the sentence. “What do we do?

Suddenly, Dot can feel eyes on her, so she takes a deep breath, and tries to start with the simplest tasks.

They make a list. It’s simple, clearly stating what they do and don’t know. It’s also depressingly uneven, and comes down to this.

They know:

  1. Nora is currently on blockers.
  2. She is most likely with Gretchen.
  3. Gretchen is the lady from the cathedral, and knows Dr. Faber.
  4. It is safe to assume Gretchen knows about Leah’s existence, then, as well.
  5. Gretchen made up a retreat in Montana, and so Nora is probably somewhere else. Maybe. Probably.
  6. Nora went with her willingly.



As Dot recites the last point to Martha who is quickly scribbling all this down as everyone chimes in, Rachel is quick to interrupt.

“No, there was a deal. Nora mentioned a promise Gretchen had to keep.”

So Martha amends:

  1. Gretchen said something to Nora to convince her to go. 



They don’t know:

  1. Where Nora is.



(This is underlined three times emphatically by Rachel.)

  1. Who Gretchen is.
  2. Why she needs Nora.
  3. Why Nora would go with her.
  4. Why she was after Angelica.
  5. Where Jonas is and how he can help, if he can help.
  6. When or how they would come for Leah
  7. If they know about the rest of the cluster.
  8. ?????



(The last point is written by Toni, to “represent that we know fuck all about pretty much everything.”)

“Great,” Rachel says, leaning now on sarcasm, which Dot honestly gets. “Now we have a nice pretty list. But what do we _do_ about it?”

It’s Shelby, surprisingly, with the answer. “I think we need to focus on what we know. Most likely Leah’s going to be targeted, so we need to get her out of the Bay. And we should all meet up, I think. It may be safer, even with Visiting and Sharing, especially if they come for each of us. We’ll have strength in numbers.”

“And we need to keep on high alert for even a second’s drop in blockers from Nora,” Dot adds quickly when she spots Rachel gearing up. “If any one of us Visits her for a second, try to remember _every single tiny detail_ about the place you’re in.” Dot makes sure to look at each of them and drive the point home. “No detail would be too small. Any clue would help.”

Not noticing Leah’s shifting feet, Dot barrels on.

“Okay, summer break starts next Friday for Shelby and me as well as for Martha and Toni. Rachel’s break has started already, and Fatin and Leah’s last day of school is next Thursday. You’ll head out immediately afterwards.”

“Out like, away from the Bay?” Leah cuts in, hands suddenly fidgeting with her sleeve.

“Yeah, we’ve said that like, two times, dude.”

Leah seemingly hesitates over her next words. Her mouth opens and closes a few times, and Dot doesn’t get it. What’s the problem?

It's Fatin, of course, who gets it immediately.

“Wait, is this because of whatshisface?”

“Jeffrey.” It comes out meekly.

“ _Him,_ first of all, FUCK him, Leah. Secondly, we don’t have time for this kind of bullsh-”

“Fatin.” Dot is quick to cut in. “Maybe take a breather. You’re not sounding like yourself.”

“ _Sounding_ like myself? Maybe that’s because you have no idea how I fucking sound! Maybe it’s because I have no idea who my own DAD fucking is.” She snorts derisively, undercutting her sudden burst in anger. “Or who he’s fucking. Fucking bastard.”

“Well,” chimes in Shelby softly, “Think of it this way, Leah. It won’t matter to this guy of yours whether you’re in the Bay or not if you’re dead.”

The cluster swivels their heads around to gape at Shelby in surprise. The Texan is shocked at the sudden attention, and shrugs sheepishly.

“Seriously though, what’s the point,” she mumbles as she crosses her arms in on herself, and Toni lets out a bark of laughter, allowing a smile to appear on Shelby’s face and her back to straighten again. “These people are clearly out to get us, they almost cut Leah’s brains open.”

“Okay, but,” Leah swallows, “It’s more than just that. What do I tell my parents? Pretty soon it’ll be 48 hours since they last saw me, and they’ll definitely go to the police with it. Do you really think the best thing is for me to be a fugitive?”

The girls all fidget as they ponder Leah’s words. She’s right, of course. They’re in over their heads. But then, Martha is suddenly speaking up.

“There’s absolutely no way for you to convince them that you shouldn’t undergo the surgery?”

Leah shrugs and sits silently for a moment. Finally, as the cluster watches the pensive look on her face, she answers.

“We’re not that close. They don’t really listen to me.”

“Well what if you gave them proof?” The girls turn to look at Toni, a variety of confused expressions on their faces. “It’s just… I was researching, and I found this doctor who’s spoken up against lobotomizing for UFLS. What if you gave them the proof? Or what if he could speak to them? Or something.”

“You were _researching?”_ Shelby asks incredulously at the same time Rachel says, “He’s a doctor, I doubt he’s going to take the time to speak to a teenager’s parents.”

Toni scuffs her foot against the carpet, suddenly looking nervous. It’s a strange look on her, Dot thinks.

After a beat, she mumbles out, “I was Visiting Nora earlier this week, and she was researching. I guess we were researching together, whatever. The guy’s name is Dr. Young.”

“Bet money he’s a sensate,” Dot says.

“I’m still hung up on the ‘you researching’ part of it all,” Martha teases. Toni just shrugs in response.

“Screw me if I wanted to help.”

Leah’s more hesitant, skeptical as usual. “But… if Nora’s the one who found Dr. Young, what if he’s in it with Gretchen?”

She barely gets the words out when Rachel is shoving a finger in her face, anger painting her eyes dark gold and her words an icy steel. “Nora would _not_ set us up like that.”

Her words leave no room for argument, and Dot looks on as Leah clenches her jaw and doesn’t say anything. Honestly, she agrees with Rachel, if anything. She was just getting to know Nora, but to think she set up a trap three moves early, letting Toni see this Dr. Young guy only to lead them into a cage, seems out of character to say the least. The cluster seems to be thinking the same thing, and the idea is dropped quickly and eagerly.

“Either way,” Dot finally speaks up, “We need Leah’s parents off her tail. It’ll have to do. Toni will give you the info you need, Leah. And you know your parents best. You and Fatin can approach that whichever way you think will work.

“While that’s happening, we need to figure out a way to move all of us together, and have solid excuses about where you’re going to the rest of your parents. My place could work, but it’s not at all big enough for all of us, and more importantly, it’s in the same town as Shelby’s house, so it doesn’t leave us much room for secrecy. We need to go to a place no one has ties. And, you know. A way to buy all the fucking plane tickets.”

As one, the cluster turns to Fatin. She just smirks at them viciously. “Yea, I think my dad can help with that.”

* * *

Leah takes a deep breath as she and Fatin approach her house. The familiar street suddenly feels menacing and not at all like home. Fatin gives her hand a squeeze, alerting Leah to the fact that their hands were clasped. _Huh,_ she thinks, her thoughts feeling murky and far off, _when did that happen._

“We have the folder with all the info Toni gave us. You have a solid argument. Your parents will listen,” Fatin reassures her. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here in person, but you know we can’t be seen together until we figure this all out.”

Leah wants to nod, to let Fatin know her confidence isn’t misplaced, but she’s not certain that that’s even true. Before she realizes it, her feet have brought her to her front door. A long moment passes, Leah’s chest rising and falling tightly. She can feel Fatin’s worried look on the side of her face, and she can hear her parents moving around inside. Her other hand clenches around the binder they assembled, and she gives Fatin’s hand a last squeeze before dropping it in favor of reaching up to knock.

Immediately she can hear sudden footsteps rushing towards the door and it accelerates her heartbeat. In the few seconds she has left, she steels herself.

The next few minutes after the door opens are a bit of a blur. Her parents seem overwhelmed as well, and they fuss over her and usher her inside. Overall, though, it’s awkward. Neither party knows how to act around one another, and Fatin hovers in her Visit, standing behind Leah where she’s sitting on the couch and resting her hands on her shoulder. It’s what Leah needs to speak up and interrupt her mother who has been rambling about how worried they’ve been as her dad looks at her like a ticking time bomb.

“Surgery on UFLS,” Leah blurts out, “is a bad idea.”

Shit. She’s usually better at transitions. She can feel Fatin facepalm behind her.

“I… I don’t quite follow, honey,” her mom says, a tad condescendingly. But now that she’s begun, it’s much easier to continue.

“Look,” Leah says, more confidently this time, and not like a young kid sitting for their first interview. She pulls out the binder, puts the peer-reviewed articles from Dr. Young on the table for her parents to see, as well as every scrap of evidence he’s ever cited in any of his works. “There’s so much evidence that lobotomizing on Undifferentiated Frontal Lobe Syndrome leads to _death,_ Mom. I know you only want what’s best for me, but this really isn’t it. I don’t want to stay away, I don’t want to hide from you. But I can’t undergo this. I _need_ you to listen to me. Please.”

Her parents are silent, and her mom’s mouth opens a couple of times only to close again. Finally, she says, “Leah, before you were supposed to undergo surgery, you were pulling away from us. You were in your room all day and your grades were dropping. And where have you even been since you left the hospital? Honey, we’re _worried._ And the MRI was extremely concerning as well. We just want what’s best for you.”

After a long moment, Leah lifts her eyes from the table to look right at her mom.

“If you push for the surgery, I’m going to go to court to get emancipated. I’ve spoken to Dr. Young. He’ll speak on my behalf.”

Leah’s parents gape at their daughter. Her mom looks like a fish out of water.

“Honey, honey, we just want what’s best-

“What’s best for me is this,” Leah shoves a business card and flyer across the table, ignoring her heart that is trying to escape her chest. “The Wilds camp. It’s a feminist retreat.” Leah lets them stare at the flyer, before continuing more gently.

“Mom. Dad. The thing is, you’re right.” Her parents’ heads immediately snap up to look at her, and she would have laughed if she wasn’t 50% sure she was having a heart attack. “I _have_ been pulling away. And since I left the hospital, I’ve been staying with a friend. And I got to thinking. I’m just not myself anymore. And I think I need something that could bring me back to that, but like. Away from all this. So, I looked up some camps and retreats, and this one just seems perfect.”

//

“It’s in Hawaii,” Rachel says to her parents. “I know Nora just left for Montana, but without Nora or diving I’m going to be bored all summer. This place looks really great, and I’d love to go, if you’ll let me.” Rachel feels a bitter taste creep into her mouth as her parents beam at her, not suspecting a thing.

//

“It’s all expenses paid, they said they would _love_ for me and Toni to go! Mom, look at it! I got an _invitation_!” Toni can’t help but think that Marty is absolutely selling it, and she wonders when her friend got so good at acting. It’s only when Bernice starts talking to her that she realizes she’s zoned out.

“You got an invitation too, Toni? That’s excellent!” Toni does her best to smile back at Bernice, but it must not work because a worried look crosses the older woman’s face. “Did your foster family say no?”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Toni corrects quickly, “They won’t even notice I’m gone.”

Bernice tilts her head at Toni in a way that is so reminiscent of Martha that Toni feels a pang in her heart. “Then what’s wrong, sweetie?”

It’s when Toni tries to answer that she realizes she doesn’t know.

//

“Well, I- I don’t know. This is all just so sudden, honey. Let me at least call the camp.”

“But your first thoughts?” Leah asks, feeling excited and trying to hide it. This just might work.

“It… it looks good. This seems like a good idea, and to be honest we were thinking about something similar. Let me call this number.”

Leah nods and sits with bated breath as the phone rings. A moment later, she hears a Texan accent come through the speaker.

Shelby absolutely sells it.

* * *

Fatin waits until her mom’s asleep and only her and her dad are up. She’s surprised that he can’t feel her glare burning a hole into his forehead as he looks down at his stupid iPad. She had let Toni talk her out of sending his nudes to his entire contact list ( _Aren’t you the fucking one percent? It doesn’t matter how much of a whiz you are at that shit he’ll just throw money at it”)_ and she’s simply burning for another way to get back at him, for her mom, for her brothers. For her.

Finally, he looks up, and Fatin quickly adopts a neutral expression.

“Honey? Everything okay?”

She smiles sweetly back at him. “Yea, I was just thinking about what I want to do this summer.”

He laughs gently and the sound makes her want to punch him. “Do tell me what you’ve come up with.”

“A retreat in Hawaii.”

He looks up at her in shock. “Oh? Didn’t think that was your style.”

“Swimming with dolphins is absolutely my style.”

He chuckles and she clenches her fist. “Well, it sounds great honey, but I’m not sure how your mom would feel about you taking that much time off of your cello.”

An actual smile creeps across her face. “I’m sure you’ll be able to convince her.”

“I think you have too much faith in my persuasion skills,” he laughs again. His smile quickly dies off his face when Fatin plops her phone down in front of him, his dick staring him in the face.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to convince her.”

His eyes shoot up at her, and the fear she had smelt coming off of him is quickly replaced with cold anger that almost sends a shiver up her spine.

“Fatin.” He looks at her, and she wonders what he’s going to go with. Where did she get those? He knows. Has she told anyone? Clearly not enough people. Instead, he says, “You’re trying to blackmail me? I am your father.”

“Not a very loyal one, though,” Fatin clenches her jaw. “Convince her.” She takes a deep breath, preparing for the next lie. “Then I won’t tell her or your sons.”

* * *

Dot’s sitting on Martha’s bed trying to figure out why Toni is ignoring her. The girl is laying on her mattress, intently not looking away from her phone. Just as Dot goes to call Toni out, her own phone pings with an email of a plane ticket.

“The bitch really did it.” Immediately, Toni picks up on the lifeline to save them from the awkwardness in the room.

“Yea, I can’t believe how much those watches cost. I mean, 70k for _one watch?”_ Toni scoffs from the floor. “A literal watch is worth my entire life quadrupled.”

“Tell me about it,” mumbles Dot. Martha is more excited, and seemingly oblivious to any tension.

“Guys! We’re really going to LA!” Dot tries to let the girl’s pure enthusiasm infect her but she just can’t feel it. She only feels the grim satisfaction of a plan filled to the brim with lies well executed.

“Keep your voice down,” Toni hisses. “It’s Hawaii, remember? Damn, who’d have thought that Fatin is that good at this shit. This website looks so legit,” she shows them the site she’s scrolling through, and Dot has to agree. Fatin has outdone herself in record time.

The cluster’s going to the city of angels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much to mon and creeks for constantly being the best. here is the only place i'll say it, creeks. 
> 
> Everyone, i'm sorry for the delay and the passive chapter. I have a simple reason: i suck
> 
> Note: if u think about the timeline too much it will hurt your head. So do what I do and don’t think (too much). 
> 
> Whatabout Shelby’s parents you say? We’ll just have to wait and see.


End file.
